This book begins right where the previous book (Scholar) left off, with our hero Quaeryt now married to Vaelora and still running the administration of Tilbor. Unfortunately, as foreseen by Lord Bhayar's grandmother, the former capital of Telaryn, Pompeii Excela, is covered by a volcanic eruption and thrown into chaos. Quaeryt is appointed interim Governor and sent to restore order to the province. During this book, Quaeryt's imager skills become more of an open secret, with some heavy foreshadowing of how the Imagisle scholars house and rules will come to be formulated.

Did I like this book? Um. Maybe? I enjoyed some of the action sequences, and a lot of the verbal byplay between the soldiers and officers. Unfortunately, Modesitt likes to pick an idiomatic theme and then repeat it like it's his favorite drum to beat. This time, it was about whether Quaeryt was properly "respecting" his higher-status wife. sigh.

I picked it up because I like this storyline generally, and really enjoyed the second Imager book. I keep hoping for that kind of building and layering plot/action again.

I would recommend this book to people already involved in the Imager series. It's definitely not the place to start, though.